May exercise legal options in phone-tapping case: Dhumal

SHIMLA: Senior BJP leader PK Dhumal today said that in spite of a ruling by the Assembly Speaker that names and details in phone-tapping case cannot be disclosed, some Congress leaders were dragging names of BJP leaders in the controversy and warned of a legal option.

"While the Chief Minister has said in the Assembly that the names and other details in phone-tapping case cannot be divulged or disclosed, some Congress leaders were dragging the names of BJP leaders in the controversy," the former Himachal Pradesh chief minister said.

We accepted the ruling of Speaker that the information pertaining to phone-tapping could not be revealed, either in the House or through RTI, and a debate cannot be taken up in the House but some leaders have been speaking to media and indicating names, said Dhumal, who is also Leader of the Opposition in Assembly.

"What is the source of information, we want to know and may explore the legal options as the government is out to defame previous BJP government by misleading people," Dhumal added.

Denying that the BJP government had changed the name of any scheme started by earlier government, Dhumal said the matter regarding changing the names of schemes named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should have been discussed but the adamant attitude of the government stalled the discussion.

"As Vajpayee had been a popular prime minister and had special love for Himachal, public sentiments are associated with the scheme named after him," the BJP leader said.

The former chief minister denied that the previous BJP government had changed the names of any scheme and asserted that all the schemes named after Vajpayee were new or funded by the state.